Book Review For The Story Keeper (Carolina Heirlooms #2) By Lisa Wingate

This book weaves together two stories—Jen’s story that begins in modern-day New York City, and Sarra’s that took place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina about 1890.

Jen Beth Gibbs is a successful thirty-one-year-old editor who grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and just got her dream job as a fiction editor at Vida House Publishing in New York City. A manuscript from the forbidden Sludge Mountain mysteriously shows up on Jen’s desk and she has to decide what to do about it.

She begins reading the mystery manuscript entitled “The Story Keeper” and becomes obsessed with it. She finds it difficult to put down and sneaks the manuscript home. Strangely, part of the manuscript is missing, and the part she has, does not include any information about who the author is. Eventually, Jen comes to suspect that the manuscript could have been written by Evan Hall. She was familiar with his writing because she had read his sci-fi Time Shifter’s series as a teen.

Her employer sends her back to the Blue Ridge Mountains with the hopes of talking to Evan and getting publishing rights for his twenty-year-old manuscript. However, Evan is fed up with his fans. He wants nothing to do with his fans, reporters, editors, or publishers. His young niece goes missing.

While Jen is trying to find a way to connect with this famous author who is hiding from everyone, she receives another letter from her sister Coral Rebecca requesting financial assistance for their struggling family. Jen eventually decides that she needs to visit her family. She returns to her former home town to discover that nothing has changed. Her family is still living according to the strict rules of the Lane’s Hill Brethren Saints. It becomes obvious to her that they have not used the past money she has sent to take care of the projects it was sent for. They are all struggling financially. The women and children are experiencing emotional and physical abuse.

While Jen is in North Carolina, missing portions of the manuscript mysteriously start showing up at the cabin she is renting. She learns more about the characters from the manuscript. She is particularly drawn to Sarra, a sixteen-year-old Melungeon girl and Rand, a young man from Charleston was preaching religion and cataloging the flora, fauna, customs, and cultures, of the area. These two characters end up travelling together and fall in love with each other. However, they come from two different worlds.

This story kept me wondering what was going to happen next. Would Jen be successful in obtaining a manuscript deal for Vida House Publishing? Who was leaving pages of the manuscript at her cabin? What will become of the relationship with Sarra and Rand? Will Evan’s lost niece be found? Is Sarra and Rand’s story fiction, or is it true?

I loved this book, and I give the book a full five stars! I recommend it to anyone interested in publishing, learning about the Melungeons or the Blue Ridge Mountains. I also recommend it to those interested in reading a good mystery or clean love story.